Epiphanies, Individuation, and Human Flourishing

Book excerpt: Within this book, Gray argues that moments of profound existential importance are given to us in the presence of Art, and that such moments are important motivators in our personal, civic, and moral lives. Using the work of Jung, Freud, Berger, and Nussbaum, this book looks to Art in its theory and practice as a driver of psychic epiphany. Examining music, environment, architecture, poetry, and painting, it traces the relationship between the ordinary and the extraordinary, showing how we can and do locate ourselves beyond our own psyches in a world of artistic endeavour. Gray concludes that Art plays a critical role in psychological practice and human flourishing on an individual and collective level. Epiphanies, Individuation, and Human Flourishing will appeal to artists, art theorists, therapists, and analysts as a teaching tool that demonstrates the possible connections that can be made among the arts, sciences and psycho-therapeutic communities, and Nature.